Proclaim the Forgiveness of Sins

I am increasingly mindful of the struggle Christians have to really believe that God loves them and forgives their sin. Part of our task as pastors in proclaiming the gospel is to remind the people of God that God does truly forgive sin. This is a crucial aspect of the gospel. But for some of our people it will be easy to believe that God hates sin, that God judges sin, and even that God forgives the sins of other people but not that he really & truly forgives their own sin.

Honestly, I am more accustomed to dealing with the error of minimizing God’s holiness and the horribleness of sin. This is a real problem in the church, but we must be wary of the error on both sides of the road here.

Eric Smith has a wonderful recent post on the task of proclaiming forgiveness individually to our people. He uses a great quote from Calvin on the fact that while we reject the Catholic practice of priestly pardon we do still as ministers of Christ, speaking as his heralds, proclaim the pardon of Christ to believers.

Eric then closes with these four searching questions which do truly get to the heart of pastoral ministry.

1) Am I striving to know my people in such a way that I can tell when they are burdened, and when they are rejoicing? Or am I content to prepare my sermons without thought to their needs and shake their hands on their way in and out of church on Sunday mornings?
2) Do I present myself as a knowable pastor, himself conscious of his sin and carried away by mercy? When my people think of someone who is approachable and sympathetic, do they think of me? Or do I come off as high-handed, demanding, and scolding?
3) Do I preach the Gospel beautifully, as the best news any sinner has ever heard, as sufficient to cleanse the deepest stains upon the conscience and heart? I personally find it much easier to preach legalistically about what we should do and not do, than to preach the Gospel of glorious free grace. My default mode is to try and modify our sinful behavior, rather than to exalt a merciful, life-giving Savior.
4) Am I able to personally apply the Gospel to the lives of my people when sitting across the table from them and listening to their stories as Calvin described? Or would I bungle this, able only to talk in generalities before a crowd? Have I thought through the sorts of sicknesses from which my people will suffer that will require tonic of the Gospel?

May we be the sort of faithful shepherds in view here.

A Minister's Confession

From Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions:

God,
I know that I often do thy work
without thy power,
and sin by my dead, heartless, blind service,
my lack of inward light, love, delight,
my mind, heart, tongue moving
without thy help.
I see sin in my heart in seeking the approbation
of others;
This is my vileness, to make men’s opinion
my rule, whereas
I should see what good I have done,
and give thee glory,
consider what sin I have committed
and mourn for that.
It is my deceit to preach, and pray,
and to stir up others’ spiritual affections
in order to beget commendations,
whereas my rule should be daily
to consider myself more vile than any man
in my own eyes.
But thou dost show thy power by my frailty,
so that the more feeble I am,
the more fit to be used,
for thou dost pitch a tent of grace
in my weakness.
Help me to rejoice in my infirmities
and give thee praise,
to acknowledge my deficiencies before others
and not be discouraged by them,
that they may see thy glory more clearly.
Teach me that I must act by a power supernatural,
whereby I can attempt things above my strength,
and bear evils beyond my strength,
acting for Christ in all,
and have his superior power to help me.
Let me learn of Paul
whose presence was mean,
his weakness great,
his utterance contemptible,
yet thou didst account him faithful and blessed.
Lord, let me lean on thee as he did,
and find my ministry thine.

(posted Thurs at http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/dailydevotion_detail.php?2399)